Studies have shown that social support and friendships are critical to optimal life span and social support helps elderly adapt to stress.

A new study says marital status–read: happily married is good–affects how well flu shots work in older people. Sorry, but my reaction to this is, ‘duh.’ If social support is good for people, it’s a no-brainer that a happy marriage would also be. There’s no better source of social support in the world than a loving spouse.

Now if only we can discover how to help more modern people get and stay happily married, we will undoubtedly save billions in health care costs.